Stop hiding behind your slides: Lead the room, don’t read to it

I once attended a slide presentation given by an executive in a telcom company.

The presentation was highly technical, but that was not the main problem. It was boring because the speaker was using back-to-back visuals and had zero connection to his audience. When the one-hour session came to an end, the entire audience filed out of the room but the executive kept talking. He was so focused on his visuals that he didn’t even realize the audience had left the room.

This story illustrates the dangers of using slides. The speaker can easily lose touch with the audience, and the result is that the power you bring as a speaker gets lost. To retain your power when using visuals, follow these five fundamentals.

1. AVOID SLIDES WHENEVER POSSIBLE.

First, consider not using slides at all. Strong